Art and Design (Photography)

Course summary

The A Level Photography course is knowledge and skills-based. The students are expected to question what a photograph is and challenge its purpose in different cultural and social environments. At the start of the course, students will develop their knowledge and understanding of how to use the darkroom. Students will explore traditional photo-developing processes by building their own pinhole camera and producing their own photographs. From this starting point, students will continue to experiment with more traditional photo-making processes and move on to more unusual ways of creating images. Students will be expected to develop a good understanding of how photographs can be created away from the digital camera and the computer. Students will be pushed to think creatively about how to create photographs and will be expected to experiment with their work, take risks and discover new methods to their practice. From this initial starting point, the students will be expected to explore how contemporary photographs. The academy uses the latest version of Photoshop cc to deepen the students understanding of the variety of image-making techniques within photography. During the final stages of year 12, the students are expected to complete a sustained project. This project should demonstrate the student’s ability to develop their own chosen themes. Year 13 is broken into two parts, the student's personal project and the final exam. Students will also be expected to complete a 3000-word essay to complement their personal project. The work the students create in year 13 is expected to demonstrate a good understanding of how photographs can be created and an ability to confidently experiment with developing their work throughout their work.